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Wolves Beat Pistons 93-85 For Second Straight Win
The Minnesota Timberwolves learned another little nugget about themselves Wednesday against the Detroit Pistons. The Wolves, who have fallen behind early in ballgames throughout the season, needed to bear down and battle a difficult shooting night from the field in order to pick up their 93-85 victory over the Pistons at Target Center.
And as the team battled back, chipping away one possession at a time, Minnesota reinforced a notion coach Rick Adelman instilled early in training camp.
No matter how the offense is performing, defense is the key to victories.
"Our guys have really bought into trying to defend," Adelman said. "All they talk about in timeouts is getting stops. We've got to get stops; we've got to get in a rhythm. Our shots will fall. That's the type of attitude you've got to have. You've got to defend and you've got to rebound."
On Wednesday, in their last game before a two-game West Coast road trip, it was paramount.
The Wolves opened up the night in a particularly large shooting slump. The Wolves mustered just 17 points on 25-percent shooting heading into the second, and with 4:41 to go the Wolves trailed a Pistons team averaging a league-worst 85 points per game by 16.
But that's when the Wolves dug in, and it started with their bench. Anthony Tolliver's pair of 3-pointers late in the first half helped bring the lead down to eight, and the Wolves never trailed by double digits the rest of the way.
Tolliver led the charge defensively, too, guarding veteran forward Tayshaun Prince when he was on the floor. Prince, who had 25 points through three quarters, was shut down through the fourth like the rest of the Pistons' squad. He finished with four of the team's 14 fourth-quarter points.
"We definitely made progress tonight," Tolliver said. "We definitely had some stretches where it wasn't too good, either. But our goal is to continue to get where we're playing 48 minutes like we had some stretches today."
In the fourth, the Wolves took over.